The Loss of a Legend

And I don't mean Whitney Houston. This post is about Sticky the frog.

Sticky was technically my frog. I rescued him, injured and in shock, from our front doorstep roughly 3.5 years ago. He was a native tree frog...one we were certain we had been seeing regularly attached to our front screen door that Summer, only when I came across him this time he was missing a good chunk of his leg. I had a moment where a decision was needed...leave him there and let him be bird food? Or bring him inside and see what I can do? If you know me, you know that even in the most hopeless cases, option #1 usually wins out. So I brought him in, googled the heck out of tree frogs and took myself to Scaly Dave's the next morning. I was given some medicine to treat his leg and told that the odds were against him surviving, but if he did I'd better be really fond of tree frogs because they can live up to 3 years. Well, he survived and we were officially stuck with each other. A few weeks into his rehabilitation I noticed one of his eyes darken and cloud over. I again inquired at Scaly Dave's (I miss that place) and was told that it wasn't entirely abnormal for them to lose their sight after a trauma since their systems are so fragile. So what I had on my hands here was a half-blind, three-legged tree frog. And THAT folks... is what legends are made of.

Sticky flourished over the next year, eating tons of crickets and even awarding us with some croaking and singing (all at like 6am in the morning, mind you.) He was content and would continue to be for some time. Julian came along of course and really started having an interest in sticky about the time he could pull a step stool over and watch him in his cage. He was just a regular part of our household. Three cats and a gimpy tree frog. Life at the Lotaks.

This Monday evening I discovered Sticky had passed away in his cage. I was shocked at first until I started to add up the years and really thought back to his activity as of late...that's when I realized he's been on his way out for a little while now. I was immediately worried about what to tell Julian - this being his first pet death and all. I decided to give it to him straight the next morning. Our conversation went a little something like this...

Me: Julian, Mommy has something sad to tell you. 

Julian: Oh? Oh no...(sad looking face)

Me: Sticky the frog died last night. He's not moving anymore and mommy took him out of his cage so that we can bury him in the yard today. He just got old and he died.

Julian: I need to go see Sticky the frog.

Me: He's not in his cage, Julian. Mommy took him out and put him in a box so that we can bury him and tell him goodbye.

Julian: I need to go see Sticky the frog.

Me: He's dead, honey. You know how when you squish a bug and the bug stops moving and won't walk or fly anymore and mommy says the bug is dead? Well, Sticky is dead. Do you understand?

Julian: Sticky got squished.

Me: No, Sticky didn't get squished. He got old and couldn't breathe anymore and he just died.

Julian: I need to go see Sticky the frog.

(at this point we go to Sticky's empty cage)

Julian: Awww. Sticky's gone. He got squished and he died and now he's all gone.

Me: He didn't get squished honey. He just died. He's in a box and we're going to bury him today. He's happy and at peace.

Julian: I need to see Sticky the frog.

Me: He's in a box in the freezer, honey. He's dead, you don't want to see him.

Julian: I go see Sticky in the freezer.

Me: (reluctantly goes to freezer, opens box and shows Julian the dead frog.)

Julian: Awww....he got squished. 

Anyhow...so after our many (many) talks, I eventually gave Julian the option of a burial for Sticky in our yard, or (an idea that came to me suddenly in the bathtub) a burial at sea. Or you know, at lake.  Julian loves going down to the lake to throw rocks, so of course this idea was immediately snatched up and we waited for Daddy to get home to help us. Literally two minutes after Eddie walked in the door, Julian filled him in on what we were going to do (roughly like this):

Julian: Daddy! We're going to go down to the water and I'm going to throw Sticky the frog in the water!

Me: No honey, we're going to SET Sticky nicely in the water and watch him float away and go bye-bye.

Julian: Yeah, we're gonna set him in the water and he float away!

And so we gathered our box of frog...some flowers from my Valentine's bouquet and my camera and we set out to bid Sticky one final, watery farewell as the sun was just dipping below the horizon.

The funeral processional

Eddie said a few words about Sticky being a brave pirate frog. 

Preparing to launch

Sticky's fully biodegradable casket

Before I even could finish my sentence about setting the box gently in the water, Julian had already flung Sticky and his casket into the lake. Amazingly, it landed right side up. 

And then it began to sink - fast.

Julian threw three flowers in after him, one for each of us. 

At this point, Sticky hasn't gotten very far. He's just out of frame, being bouyed by the flower on top of his box

Watching the sun set, skipping rocks and saying our good-byes

After some serious urging and splashing from Eddie and I, Sticky finally started to make his journey towards freedom (you can see him just above the rocks)

Bon Voyage, Sticky.

He was a good frog.

(disclaimer: although we are all deeply saddened by Sticky's passing, there was obviously a lot of humorous moments as well. I think we sent Sticky out exactly the way he would have wanted, with love and laughter!)